The present invention relates to wiping devices for motor vehicles.
Numerous wiping devices are known in the art. One of such wiping devices is disclosed for example in the European patent document EP 0 579 550. In this wiping device the abutment force applied with the wiping blade against a windshield of a motor vehicle is provided by a spring which is mounted on a wiper arm. The wiper arm has for this purpose a substantially elongated hinge part, and the wiper blade is articulately mounted on its one end. At the other end the hinge part is articulately connected with a mounting part which is non rotatably mounted on the wiper shaft of the wiping device.
For producing the abutment force a pulling spring is tensioned between the hinge part and the mounting part at the side of the articulated connection which faces the windshield. For this purpose the mounting part has a pin, in which one side of a C-shaped bracket is hooked. At the other side of the bracket the end of the pulling spring is hooked. The hinge part also has a pin or a strip for mounting of the pulling spring.
Since the pulling spring however partially extends outwardly beyond the lower edge of the hinge part, an unfavorable flow course is obtained in condition of high traveling speeds. Moreover, the pulling spring is subjected to the action of all weather influences and therefore its service life is shortened.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wiping device for a vehicle, which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a wiping device which has at least one mounting part and a hinge part articulated on said mounting part; a pulling element which connects said mounting part with said hinge part, said hinge part having substantially a profile with a base and at least one lateral flank; a strip extending from said lateral flank, said pulling element being articulated on said strip, said strip extending from an edge of said lateral flank which faces away from said base and extending toward said base so as to enclose an angle with said lateral flank, said lateral flank forming with at least one region of said strip an angle which is smaller than 45xc2x0.
When the wiping device is designed in accordance with the present invention, it has the advantage that due to a small angle between a lateral flank of the wiper arm and a mounting strip of the spring, the spring can be arranged completely in the interior of the profile. Thereby the pulling means are protected from weather influences and moreover no foreign bodies are located in the flow course.
In accordance with the present invention it is especially advantageous when the strip is of one piece with the hinge part. Therefore the strip and the hinge part can be produced as a single part in punching-bending technique.
The strip can be also formed so that two regions are produced, wherein the first region forms an angle smaller than 45xc2x0, in particular between 20 and 40xc2x0, and preferably less than 30xc2x0 with the lateral flank, while the second region is formed so that it has a plane extending substantially perpendicular to the lateral flank and/or parallel to a base. Therefore the pulling means can be mounted without torsion loading on the second region of the strip.
When the pulling means engage on the second region of the strip, then it can be connected with the strip without a torsion loading, when the other end of the pulling means is mounted perpendicular or parallel to the lateral flank on the mounting part.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention the hinge part can be formed as a bending-punching part and can have a substantially U-shaped profile in a cross-section. Therefore the pulling means can be completely covered within the U-shaped profile.
It is especially advantageous when the pulling means is formed as a pulling spring. The pulling springs are cost-favorable mass produced articles and can be produced with a corresponding quality.
It is also especially advantageous when the pulling spring is articulately connected to the strip so that it is released from torsion load. This significantly increases the service life as well as the long term stability of the pulling spring.
The strip can have an opening in which the pulling spring can be hooked, so that the pulling spring can be connected with the hinge part in a series manufacture in a simple, fast and reliable manner. Moreover the shape and/or the arrangement of the opening can be varied individually in dependence on the length of the spring or the spring constant.
The strip can have a notch in which the pulling spring can be suspended. Therefore no openings or punched-out passages are needed. Thereby higher costs are avoided and material is saved.
It is especially advantageous when the pulling means in the region of the strip does not extend parallel to the base of the plane of the profile beyond an edge of the lateral flank which faces away from the base. In this case it is guaranteed that no unfavorable flow courses are formed in the region of the strip and furthermore the pulling means are protected from weather influences.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.